By: Deborah Johnson Wood
Over 18 months ago, Grand Valley State University launched an expansion effort to double the size of the George and Barbara Gordon Gallery on its Pew Campus. The gallery, located in the DeVos Center, reopened in November and showcases 43 of the university’s growing collection of Mathias Alten paintings—now numbering 64, with four more arriving next month.
Alten, a prolific impressionist painter, lived most of his life in Grand Rapids and is noted for his seascapes and landscape paintings of West Michigan and other places around the globe.
“When the building was being constructed (in 2000), the room was just a meeting room with a lot of windows,” says Henry Matthews, director of galleries and collections. “A gift of 36 Alten paintings came from George and Barbara Gordon. Then-president Don Lubbers determined the gallery would showcase as many of the paintings as we could, and the gallery was named after the Gordons.”
Since then, the Gordons and three of Alten’s granddaughters have added both watercolor and oil paintings to the collection.
“We outgrew that space,” Matthews says, “so the Gordons made a generous financial gift to allow us to expand the building. We redesigned the original space and added on to it.
“Grand Valley is very clearly a center of Alten paintings and a place to study Alten’s work,” Matthews adds. “It is a permanent home to view Alten works, which, in this community, means a lot because so many here know and love his work.”
The Gordon Gallery is open to the public with free admission on Fridays and Saturdays, from 1 - 5 p.m., except holiday weekends, and also by appointment.
Source: Henry Matthews, Grand Valley State University
Aerial Photo of the GVSU Pew Campus by Brian Kelly
Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.